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I am new to this forum so please bear with me. I have a 55 gallon brackish tank with app. 30 Mollies and 35 Olive Nerite snails. The tank has been set up for about 4 yrs. I have started planting this tank and have some questions.
What is the specific gravity for a brackish tank? I have tested with a hydrometer and it comes out tp 1.004. The info I get is the reading should be 1.005-1.012. I have app. 2 tspns of salt per gallon at this point and am wondering if I am measuring wrong and/or the info I have is wrong!(?)
The water is very hard (liquid rock) and tests off the hardness scales. Tests show no phosphate although my 5 other tanks show some with the same water.(?) There is no measurable iron(0),ammonia is 0,nitrites are 0 and nitrates are 40ppm. The P.H. is very high too(8.5). Some of the plants that are in the tank do well and are growing. Others just fade away. I have 130 watts of lighting on for 12 hrs a day. Any help/info would be greatly appreciated!!
What would be a good catfish/algae eater for a brackish tank?
Thanks.

Can you give us a list of plants that have worked and plants that haven't. The reason some of the plants might not be doing to well might be because the low iron levels, you can fix this by adding some liquid plant fertiliser although when using this stuff you need to be cautious because you will get frequently algae growths, but you may not have to worry about this too much because you have snails. I'm not sure but some of the plants that aren't working might be sensitive to brackish waters. When i put plants in one of my tank i had to add fertiliser because they weren't getting enough iron. The way that i could tell this was the leafs would turn a clear yellowish color.

Thats my 2 cents, hopefully a planting expert will come along and give you some better advice.

Renegade545,
king of the frontosa

If the lights are four years old that is likely part of your problem. Bulbs need to be replaced every 6 months to a year. It also depends on what type of bulb you're using. I reccomend 6700 Kelvin daylight bulbs. You can get a large selection of daylight bulbs at hardware stores these days and they're a whole lot cheaper than at a LFS .

I'm fairly positive some of the hardier plants like java fern should do okay, which might be the ones you mentioned that are doing alright. I'd stay away from any plants that require more than 2wpg, also since you are running that much light you should be running CO2. Without the CO2 the extra wattage is just going to waste. Sorry if I missed that you are or not, bit early in the morning still !
You might also consider reducing the salt levels some, I know there is plenty of debate as to if mollies actually need salt or not.

^_^

A brackish tank is generally considered over 1.005 sg and you should be using marine salt not plain salt. Otherwise it's just a freshwater tank with a little salt added. Mollies don't really need salt though and olive nerites are actually one of the few nerite species that is regularly found in freshwater. They are often kept in freshwater tanks so technically you don't need a brackish tank for these critters unless you just want one. Fish, snails, and shrimp that can live in brackish prefer hardwater with high ph. That's actually a good thing for the fish. It could be bad for some plants though. At that salt level most plants shouldn't be affected. I would look more at your light, possibly the hardness of your water depending what plants you have, and the low iron and phosphate. If you stop adding salt you can add algae eaters like plecos or otos but otherwise the best algae eaters for a salted tank that aren't near impossible to find are mollies and nerite snails.

Hi,
First, here is a site that tells you what plants would
be good in a brackish water tank:

http://www.azgardens.com/habitats_brackish.php

and a link to setting up a brackish water tank:

http://www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/article_detail.asp?id=61

and another on setting one up, what one is, and what
plants etc to use:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1980&articleid=3299

Hope these help...

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thanks for the info. The plants that are doing well are the Tell and Dwarf Saggittaria Subulata. I have added an iron supplement and will test again tonight. I never thought about the age of the bulbs so they will be replaced. I have tested the CO2 levels but having read more about this on this forum... Can you accurately measure C02 levels?
Once again, thank you all for the info. It has given me alot to think about.

Hi,
Without lab equipment, we measure the KH and the pH values
and then plot them on this chart:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Mollies...hmmm...If you slowly raise their salinity, you can get them to live happily is pure salt water (SG 1.018-1.024) However, if you raise the SG up that high, it wont be plants you are adding but corals (probably not a really since mollies are pickers).
But back to your question, Moneywart AKA Cabomba will like nicely in slightly brackish water as well as java fern and java moss. These I have tried and they do not seem to be affected by it. I have been told that hornwart will also work, but i cant even get that to live in fresh water let alone brackish.
I hope this helps you out a bit.



"There is also a Clown Pleco in this tank some where. I am telling you, HE IS IN HERE."